The Demon's Lament
by NarutoAngel
Summary: They were the first humans to befriend them... Ice Angel Origins AU with Naruto references
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Dark-Hunters belong to Ms. Sherrilyn Kenyon. This is only for entertainment purposes.**

**A/N: Second origins of Ice Angel. What are the Elementos? This is about their origins.**

**Prologue**

_Blood._

_It was everywhere in splatters, splotches, and puddles. God, why did humans have to bleed so damn much! It didn't matter that he was now a soulless, immortal monster. He had begun as a human and in her mind that allowed him to continue to be a human. All those years alive did not change that._

_It was a curse that they both shared, their humanity, no matter how much she wanted to deny it. _

_His bent knees were drenched, blood staining the steel gate he hung from like rust. The smell, it was filled with death and despair, that her intoned senses picked up fiercely like a curse. In that position, she couldn't touch him, couldn't make sure. The cross symbol was, after all, associated with the Heavenly realm, a place where a demon like her could not trespass. _

"_Are you fucking kidding me?" she asked no one, for she doubted that he could hear her at this point. "Are you… _fucking… _kidding me? Are you… really… dead? Is this how you're going to let them get you? Like a fucking pussy that can't let go of his past?!"_

_She began to laugh, giggles at first, until they became hysterical laughter. Tears poured down her face, burning her skin as the laughter turned into wrenching sobs. _

"_Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, god fucking DAMN!" she cursed, her fist smacking against her forehead in an abusive manner. "…fucking happens all the time. I'm always fucking late!"_

_She dropped to her knees before him, her chest heaving as she tried to contain her howls. To lift her head to the sky, the moon, and cry out, in both screams and energy, to allow her enemies to find her, it was all too damn tempting. _

_The need for revenge burned in her chest with a cool fire, a resentment of the Daimons who did this. She wanted to bury her fangs into their flesh, while she used her tails to demonstrate exactly how it was to be a demon. _

_Ao no Kaji, or simply Blue, wanted to give him a firsthand glimpse of the Hell Fire; this Desiderius will know exactly what it was like to be in the blackest, coldest, deepest part of Sheol, the last level of Hell where Lucifer himself resided. _

_It was strange. Never had she wanted to defy Moni's will like this. She was nothing but obedient to the great wolf, but right now it was hard to see reason. Not even Tekken could swayed her now, could get her to change her mind. She was too far gone._

_Blue had failed again to save her precious person, that one human whom could sway a demon, who interested them beyond a simple meal. To an Elementos, that person was special, for it was them who can save them. _

_But she failed, like before. Fucking déjà-vu. _

"…_Blue?"_

_She gasped, looking up at that battered face. Kyrian the Dark Hunter gave a mocking grin to the person he thought was like him. He called her a Were-Hunter because of her second, true form, a feral dog. _

"_Are you… really… crying?" _

_His words were labored with each breath he took, blood seeping past his lips. It was a horrifying sight, one that would guarantee to make Amanda cry, but to Blue, she couldn't be happier. The despair receded at the sight of life within those black eyes. _

"_You're alive," she whispered. "You bastard…! You're alive!"_

"_Yeah… I am. For now…" Kyrian hissed as a wave of pain washed over him. "I don't…know how much… I have left. Sorry, Blue… for raising… your hopes up."_

"_What are you talking about?" she asked quietly, standing to reach up to the nail that impaled the palm through his right hand. It burst with electricity, the image rejecting the evil inside her as she touched it. _

"_Did you think that I will just let you die? Not like this." It stung, the energy ripping her flesh as she pulled, holding up his arm with her shoulder and working gently as she could. _

"_I've been given a second chance the moment I met you, Kyrian. Even if you're stuck on a holy image, where I cannot touch you, I will not allow you to die like this. Even if it breaks my hands, I'll save you. For you are mine, Kyrian, my precious human._

"_If anyone's going to kill you, then it'll be me."_


	2. Our Search

**Chapter One – The Ballad of Demons**

**Part One – Our Search**

"_In all the darkest pages of the malign supernatural, there is no more terrible tradition than that of the Vampire, a pariah even among demons." _– Montague Summers

The Crescent City.

A land where both dream and nightmares met in battle.

Where the alleyways were traps for the naïve and stupid.

And yet, the purest form of energy in existence decided to land here.

Ironic.

The red bull and blue furred dog looked really out of place standing together, especially on the rooftop of one the many old buildings within the French Quarter. The rays of the setting sun fled the area, allowing the shadows to sink in.

Soon the darkness will become a hunting ground and it shall be a difficult task to keep hidden. Their kind was unknown to this dimension and the leaders preferred it to be that way. Right now, their main concern was the Full Moon crystals, one for each month in the year, and finding them before the polluted magic taints the purity within.

The twelve moon crystals have been scattered on the eve of the New Year, upon the death of the old void Elementos whom had held the title of the Spatial. Now Moni, their matron lady, has become the white wolf Elementos of the Spatial Dimensions. Upon her new rule, the twelve leaders of the elements and their chosen disciple must go and find them.

The time was January and the month's full moon, the crystal's namesake, was due within a week. That was the timeline that they had until the crystal was lost forever and yet they had no clue of the whereabouts of the damn thing.

Tekken, the red bull demon and leader of the Fire Elementos, lifted himself to his hind legs. His body changed with a wispy smoke and soon there stood a very tall African man. His skin was a coal black and his eyes stood out as amber orange. His long dark hair was braided close to his scalp, some parts of it extending into dreadlocks while the rest had beads woven within the strands. Feather earrings hung from pointed ears, a ring piercing on his full bottom lip, and he was clothed for hot weather despite the chilly evening: a red brown tunic with a sand colored pants. Like typical usui-oni, he wore no shoes on his large feet.

"The Full Wolf Moon crystal is here," Tekken pointed out and he sounded irritated. "If it weren't for this all damn negativity, we might find it sooner."

"_I_ might find it sooner," the inuyoukai corrected as she too transformed herself. She crouched in her earlier position, appearing as a young girl in her late teens with long, dark blue hair. Her eyes were the light blue color of the hottest part of the flame, with a creamy white complexion and dark eyelashes. She kept her dogs ears despite the uproar it would cause, the left bent at an awkward angle. Her clothing was a professional warrior's uniform: black overcoat over a black outfit, cut at the sleeves with arm length gloves that looked worn and weathered from constant use.

She had a blank face like usual, the same lifeless expression she has kept since she accepted his tutorage nearly eleven thousand years ago. No matter what he did, Tekken could not get the Ao no Kaji to smile. Only her cousin, the Haine no Mizu, and Lady Moni could get anything that wasn't a scowl or an expression of anger.

"You are here only to test me," Ao continued, eyes glowing like his in the consuming darkness. "Before I become a general, I have to find this crystal and you mark my progress. As long as I don't reveal myself to the _bakemonos_ of the night, I'm fine to do whatever I want."

"They have names, Ao, and it will be good for you to remember them," Tekken none so gently reminded her. "This is Artemis's realm and in a way Apollo's as well. Remember her Dark-Hunters and remember his Daimons. You will need to keep away from every one of them if we are to survive."

Her lip curled in disgust. "Couldn't they have chosen another name to call themselves?" Ao asked. "I hate the fact that it gives a relation to us demons, that it is easy to mistake the two of us."

The usui-oni shrugged. "Take it up with Apollo," he said.

Ao hissed at the name, acting less as a dog and more like a disgruntled snake. "Like I could face him after what he did…!" she demanded of no one.

"It's been eleven thousand years, Ao," Tekken reminded her.

"And it'll be eleven thousand more. No matter how long it has been, I will not forgive him. I don't think I could ever forgive him."

He didn't say anything else. It would be useless to even try and sway her opinion. In Tekken's mind, everyone was entitled to forgiveness. It was how he had been taught, by the previous fire Head Elementos.

However, Ao had a worse to be mentioned mentor, if one at all. In her mind, all were guilty. All were sinners.

She could only trust two people with her heart.

"You should be off. This is how far I am allowed to accompany you. I shall still be here to survey the area, but how much I am allowed to help you is limited."

"I know." Ao went to the ridge of the roof.

"Ao."

She looked back at her mentor.

"What are you not suppose to do?" Tekken asked, merely for clarification than anything else.

She replied monotonously. "Reveal myself, trust anyone, and keep out of their way."

"Good luck then."

Ao nodded and grabbed the ridge, throwing herself off the edge.

Left behind, Tekken released the forlorn sigh he had been holding. To be honest, he wasn't sure if Ao was up to the task. She has mentioned before that she was better off as a grunt than a leader. She did not have the confidence to lead her people.

He had no doubt that, when she learned the true reason about this task, finding these crystals, Ao would no doubt curse him.

In the end, however, it was for the best.

"Good luck, Blue."

--

True to be told, Ao hated New Orleans.

There was nothing wrong with the city itself, just that the climate was too damn damp for her. As a fire demon, she had a natural aversion to water. As a fire Elementos, well, the feeling was near suffocating.

Ao walked through the alleyways, sticking close to the French Quarter. Besides the bayou, this was one of the last places she hadn't checked yet. Of course, it was stupid to have left the areas with the most water last, but she was too pissed off to have given a damn.

This world had really gone downhill since she was last here, several centuries ago. Humans were less fearful of the monsters out there than they were themselves. No longer did they fear the Creator and His wrath, nor they did continue to live a modest, prison life, and hid their sins in a closet. No, they have become more arrogant in their ways, too cocky for their own good.

Honestly, Ao no longer saw them as worth saving.

"And they're polluting our world," she muttered softly, reaching down to pick up a wad of trash within a sewer drain. Her eyes narrowed as it caught fire within her fist, crushing it in her hand until it crackled into ash.

"No wonder we can't survive on our own."

"Help me!"

Her ears twitched at the scream, coming from the next bend that led deeper into the alley. _How could someone allow themselves to be tricked so far in?_ Ao asked herself silently, annoyed.

Really, humans were so stupid. They were whiny, demanding, greedy, dirty and idiotic beings that couldn't have made it on their own if it weren't for their God holding their hand all the way.

They, the Elementos, on the other hand, had to struggle to live the next hour, had to degrade themselves and beg mercy from everyone – the other demons, the angels above, _God_ – just to have something to eat. Theirs was a hellish existence and despite the fact when they die, their element died as well, no one came to save them.

They were the most important beings in the universe and no one gave a damn. And people wondered why she was so bitter?

Ao found herself surveying the scene with a detached mind. Two tall, blonde men were harassing a female, like two cats playing with a mouse. They had an ash sort of smell to them, like the lingering dust that surrounds a cemetery.

Like Death.

They mocked the woman, taunted her by giving her a false chance to escape, only to pull her back as she tried to run. They laughed when she broke down and began to sob, seeming to revel in her tears.

Ao gave a small grunt of frustration as she gritted her teeth. She couldn't watch this. No matter how cold-hearted she seemed to be, she just couldn't let this monsters have their way.

It brought up too many memories she rather not have.

She stepped from the edge and walked simply forward. Hands by her side, they began to glow with the life energy known as chakra for the base of her magic. She couldn't just use the Hell Fire right away, or it'll put her on the radar. It sucked but what else she could do?

Besides, she was far better at fist fights than spells anyways.

"No!" The woman tried to use her weight to get out of the blonde man's grasp, but it made her fall instead where the other grabbed hold of her. "No, please. I have a family…!"

"We just want to play," one of them whined like a child. "How about this? Your family can join us! How does that sound?"

"Delicious," the partner licked his lips.

_Slash…!_

Ao held the woman gently, idly prying apart the fingers of the severed hands that held her frail shoulders.

"No matter what you do, don't scream. Let me do everything on my own while you run, understood?"

"Eh?" the woman gaped, looking at her dumbly while her mind tried to comprehend what just happened.

Ao gripped her shoulders and shook her roughly. "I said, did you understand?"

"Y-Yes!"

"Aa…. Aa…. AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!" The creature finally registered that a good chunk of his arms were gone.

"What the hell…?" His partner swirled around blindly.

"Go." Ao pushed the woman towards the corner hard enough that she stumbled. "Run and don't look back. Go back to your family and next time, stay there."

"You bitch!" the dismembered man squealed in pain.

"I thought there was only one Dark-Hunter," the other said out loud, his mouth gaping.

"There is. She's… something else!" groaned the first, trying to stop the bleeding by pressing the stumps against his stomach.

"Then… what is she?!"

_Slash!_

"It's not nice to point," Ao said simply, grabbing the finger in her hand after cutting it off with educed chakra.

"Ah!" The man gasped, staring cross-eyed at his missing finger.

"Blonde hair, fangs, and the smell of death," she repeated the description Tekken had given her at the briefing before they entered this world. "Apollo's fallen sons, Daimons." She sneered. "How I hate that he gave you that name."

"What the fuck are you?!" the one with the missing finger demanded. His partner with the missing arms was gone.

Ao wasn't too worried though. Her chakra acted like a poison. Once it entered the flesh, the fire in her blood will travel through the insides, scorching a path through everything until the entire body was consumed. It was a fast process and the other probably already died, as the one before her, the remaining Daimon, coughed and gasped as his body began to crumble into dust.

She held his terrified gaze and felt no sympathy. "I am the Ao no Kaji, the Dog of Hell."

The ashes plopped to the ground in a pile. Ao bent down and scattered the remains, allowing them to catch the passing breeze.

"I don't blame you for this," she admitted softly, "and I hate that you had to die. But your father should have known that, when you mess with the humans, a hero will always appear. That is how much the Creator loves them, even if He neglects everyone else."

Rising to her feet, she sniffed the air as her ears twitched again. She could hear it: not far from her there was a battle. She didn't call it a fight, because it didn't sound that way. Cue the trumpets and the war cries and you had a war scene in the middle of present day New Orleans.

It didn't concern her. She wasn't supposed to get involved after all and it was only because she got soft that she interfered before.

Family was everything. They be damned if anyone tries to break it.

Ao turned away.

It hit her like a physical blow. Swerving back, Ao could sense the pure energy that they were looking for. The moon above, for a moment, filled out and became full. The usual shadowed faced morphed and transformed into the shadowed figure of a howling wolf.

"It's appeared!" she exclaimed, and ran forward with the image in her sight, which had disappeared and return to the normal crescent moon.

Conviently, it began to rain.

The Full Wolf Moon was a crystal of water, so it wasn't that much of a surprise. The reason why fire Elementos were the ones sent to look for it, Ao didn't know. Tekken would only say that it was training, that Haine couldn't be her only connection to her opposite.

Training or not, it didn't change the fact that she hated water. It gave her a fear, that one day the fire within her would be doused and she will die a painful death. She didn't want that, now that she had Haine.

Even now, the rain splashing against her face accelerated her heartbeat, giving the illusion that at any moment, it would burst.

She hated water and the element knew it. That's why, perhaps, it punished her for it.

--

The rain fell down heavily so she was completely drenched and weak with the strain the wet brought her when she arrived.

Like she had thought, there was a battle going on. Daimons fought wildly against a single person, the only man there who smelled different than dust from a grave. He had an earthly smell, like they used to back in the ancient times, before cologne became a priority, the natural scent men used to have.

Basically, he was the only one there who smelled alive. But it was hard to be sure. There was also a hollow smell, as if an important part of him had been taken.

It was confusing.

The energy drew her close and soon Ao found herself in the middle. A Daimon tried to grab hold of her but a swipe of one of her eleven tails had him crumbling into dust. She winced as the loud screams of the human souls trapped inside resounded within her ears, as they escaped to the air, disappearing to Purgatory, Uriel's realm.

"_Dark-Hunters were created to exterminate the Daimons," _Tekken had said. _"No matter how sad it may seem, remember that it is necessary. Human souls are not to be touched, no matter what. We can eat their flesh, mate with them, but never devour their souls. The Creator will destroy us. No matter what they tell you, let the hunters do their job. _Never _feel sorry for them."_

She didn't care for humans. At most, she despised them. But the soul was a realm that she would never touch, no matter how goaded she may be she knew what it was like to be broken.

Never would she wish that on someone else.

A flash of light caught her eye. Ao turned and was face to face with a figure she thought she would never see again.

"Wither-jisan…?"

The void demon and Elementos that once held the title of Spatial stood before her in all of his glory. He looked as he had before the disease struck him: an elderly man with long white hair dressed in similar shaded robes. His face had always had a strict expression, but today it was soft with kindness, the same look he had given the young of the Elementos, a time when she was still a pup.

It couldn't be. The guy was dead. His death had been the trigger for this mad goose chase, the reason why she even returned to this realm.

"Jisan!" She pushed past a Daimon in her haste, trying to follow Wither as he turned, leaving. "Jisan! Matte!"

_Slish!_

Wither's image faded. Ao blinked, and looked down at the hilt of the sword that was buried in her chest. Blood spewed from her mouth to mix with the water trickling down her chin.

"What…? How…?" words were sputtered in disbelief.

She was not blonde and her eyes weren't black.

This was not a Daimon!

Ao looked up at the wide-eyed, surprised gaze of the blonde man who was not a Daimon. His eyes were pitch black and he had fangs, but he was not a soul-sucking monster. That made him the other kind.

_Dark-Hunter._

The name filled her mind as it shut down, Ao falling into the great abyss of the unconsciousness.

-A Demon's Ballad-

_I hate all that you were. I hate all that reminds me of you. But most of all, I hate myself because I could not save you._


End file.
